Isocrates 1.21 "To Demonicus"

Greek
1

Context: Isocrates takes up the question, how should a man manage his anger when he is wronged by another? He provides an answer in this clause:

. . . . τῇ δὲ ὀργῇ παραπλησίως ἔχῃς πρὸς τοὺς ἁμαρτάνοντας ὥσπερ ἂν πρὸς ἑαυτὸν ἁμαρτάνοντα καὶ τοὺς ἄλλους ἔχειν ἀξιώσειας. . . .

Trial translation (very free, guesswork): regarding your own anger at those wronging you, you should judge yourself just as you would judge another man who deals with somebody who wronged him.

My problem is uncertainty about ἑαυτὸν and τοὺς ἄλλους. In fact, although I think this clause boils down to “behave according to the standard by which you judge others”, I don’t really understand how this clause works.

The whole section is here:

2

I was confused by this last night. But after some sleep, it seems to make sense. My understanding, just going by the linked Greek and never having read any Isocrates:

…and you should feel equal anger against the wrongdoers as you might judge right for the others to feel against themselves [lit. himself] doing wrong…

παραπλησίως takes a dative (τῇ ὀργῇ), at the same time functioning as an adverb + ἔχειν

The ὥσπερ introduces the other half of the παραπλησίως comparison.

The πρὸς ἑαυτόν makes it confusing and nonsensical, imo, and I immediately wanted it to be πρὸς σεαυτόν.

…and you should feel equal anger against the wrongdoers as you might judge right for the others to feel against you yourself doing wrong…

And looking it up in the Teubner apparatus, I’m not the only one that feels this way, as there is both σεαυτόν and σαυτόν in the manuscript tradition.

3

Thanks jeidsath for reporting your reading of this clause. You make me feel better about my own inability to make the words match the Perseus-provided English translation. Usually when baffled enough to study the translation, I can make out the Greek, but this time I just couldn’t do it.

4

καὶ τοὺς άλλους is the subject of ἔχειν, and πρὸς ἑαυτὸν is “to you”: see Smyth 1230 for 3rd-person reflexive used for 2nd person (or we could read προς σεαυτὸν). The reflexive form is used rather than simply πρὸς σέ since it refers to the subject of the sentence.

5

mwh: καὶ τοὺς άλλους is the subject of ἔχειν, and πρὸς ἑαυτὸν is “to you”: see Smyth 1230 for 3rd-person reflexive used for 2nd person (or we could read προς σεαυτὸν). The reflexive form is used rather than simply πρὸς σέ since it refers to the subject of the sentence.

That is most helpful mwh, especially your comment on πρὸς ἑαυτὸν. In case anybody wants to study this word-by-word, I quote the troublesome phrase:

τῇ δὲ ὀργῇ παραπλησίως ἔχῃς πρὸς τοὺς ἁμαρτάνοντας ὥσπερ ἂν πρὸς ἑαυτὸν ἁμαρτάνοντα καὶ τοὺς ἄλλους ἔχειν ἀξιώσειας

And here is the George Norlin translation from Perseus

if you manage your temper towards those who offend against you as you would expect others to do if you offended against them;